Pakistan shuts Radio Free Europe's Pashto-language station

AFP
20th January, 2018 03:07:27

Pakistan shut down the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Pashto-language station in the country on Friday for airing content "against the interest of Pakistan".

The office of RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal in the capital Islamabad was ordered closed by the ministry of interior, which said Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) -- Pakistan's top spy agency -- had found its programmes to be "in-line with (a) hostile intelligence agency's agenda".

The notification, posted on the RFE/RL website and seen by AFP separately, did not identify the agency.

It accused Radio Mashaal of portraying Pakistan as a "failed state" and "a hub of terrorism and safe haven for different militant groups."

The government further alleged that the station was "distorting facts (to) incite the target population against the state and its institutions", referring to ethnic Pashtuns.

The notification specified Radio Mashaal's audience in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, and the northwestern tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

These areas have been the hardest hit by unrest since 2007, and have seen several large-scale operations by Pakistan's military against extremist groups.